The British tend to think of tea as the national drink. More than 165 million cups are made every day here. But, in terms of consumption per capita, Britain is just 12th in the global tea-drinking stakes, behind countries such as Uruguay, Kenya and Turkey.

Other countries are also recognising the allure of tea. America, for example, has traditionally been a coffee-drinking nation. But today, tea accounts for half the beverages served in US Starbucks outlets.

These trends bode well for Strix Group, the world’s top maker of kettle safety controls. These turn off kettles when they boil or if there is insufficient water, so preventing an explosion.

National drink: More than 165 million cups are made every day in Britain

Strix floated in August. The shares are 136½p and should rise significantly as the firm expands. It has a generous dividend policy, expecting to pay out 7p a share in 2018, which implies a yield of more than 5 per cent. Steady increases are pencilled in for 2019 and beyond.

Strix controls are used about a billion times a day. Customers include top names such as Tefal, Siemens and Philips, and the firm has a global market share of 39 per cent, almost four times larger than its nearest competitor, Otter Controls.

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But there is still considerable growth potential. In the UK, there is an average of 1.2 kettles per home and people tend to buy new ones every three years or so, providing Strix with reliable, recurring revenue.

In the US meanwhile, only 12 per cent of homes have a kettle, but numbers are rising by more than 10 per cent annually.

The versatile inventor behind Strix

The history of Strix dates back to the Second World War, when British inventor Eric Taylor came up with a way to control heated flying suits for pilots.

Taylor used that knowledge to found Castletown Thermostats in 1951, expanding the business over the next 20 years before leaving it to his son, John, who changed the company’s name to Strix, the Latin for screech-owl. The young Taylor inherited his father’s genius for invention.

Not only did he mastermind a revolutionary thermostat for cordless kettles, he also developed the thermostat for the engine cooling system in E-Type Jaguars in the 1960s and, more recently, the Chronophage, a ‘time-eating’ clock, pictured, in which a giant metal insect makes its way round the face, appearing to devour time.

Originally designed for Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where Taylor studied, the clock was unveiled by physicist Stephen Hawking. Taylor has since made three more clocks, each following the same principle.

Now almost 81, Taylor was awarded an OBE in 2011 for services to business and horology.

The Isle of Man Post Office celebrated his achievements last month with six stamps focusing on different areas of his life’s work.

China is another strong source of growth. Strix has a 50 per cent share of the market so its controls are in around 48 million kettles there.

But millions of homes are either kettle-free or own products with poor safety features, increasing the risk of over-boiling or dangerous electric malfunction.

The market is expected to double in size over the next few years as safety regulations become tighter and Chinese consumers get wealthier. Strix will be a clear beneficiary.

The UK, the Continent and North America are highly regulated markets, so kettles can only be sold if they have top safety controls. But other regions are less well regulated, including large swathes of Latin America, Asia and Russia.

In many of these areas, there is a growing recognition of the need for robust safety features but an intense focus on cost as well. Strix has recently developed new controls that combine low cost with high quality, so it hopes to lift sales materially in the coming years.

Chief executive Mark Bartlett has been with the firm since 2006. An avid tea-drinker – up to 12 cups a day – he is determined to use the float as a springboard for growth, both in its kettle division and in other areas. The group makes Aqua Optima water filters and produces the controls for the Tommee Tippee Perfect Prep baby milk heater.

It has even developed turbo-toaster technology, which allows toast to be made in less than a minute and is used in several machines in the UK, Australia and Germany.Strix is headquartered on the Isle of Man, where corporation tax is zero, and much of its work on new products is carried out on the island. But most manufacturing is done in China, where 90 per cent of the world’s kettles are made.

Brokers expect pre-tax profits to go up by 16 per cent to £26.6 million this year, rising to £29.1 million in 2018. A dividend of 2.9p is forecast for 2017.

Midas verdict: The group has done well in its first few months as a listed business but the best is yet to come. Investors with a long-term view should do well out of this stock – and the dividend is an extra perk.